Describe your school's strengths and needs based on a school improvement document, such as the school's SALT visit report, its SALT survey data, or its school improvement plan.
RJ02 - Reflective Journal Entry 2 - Due Saturday, February 6, 2010
Review your school's SALT visit report.
Describe two areas of improvement for your school as suggested by their SALT report.
For each area, explain how this is apparent in your classes. (U)
Two areas of improvement for Westerly Middle School are:
Communicate and implement a common language and expectations across all disciplines for teaching writing, reading and problem solving.
Focus more on reading comprehension strategies to deepen students’ understanding of text.
The first recommendation is something that I've seen my CT as well as the other teachers in our team talk about at almost every team meeting. The NECAP uses a particular language and the students need to be prepared for that. My CT's team has come up with a list of common words that are used on the NECAP and all plan to implement them into their daily routine [on tests, quizzes, homework, etc.]. This will help students understand what the NECAP questions are actually asking.
The second recommendation is also something that I feel is very important in science. It's a difficult task for students to be able to read science text. The vocabulary is often new and can easily discourage students from reading.The instant a student comes across a word they are unfamiliar with, it's easy to get lost and confused in the text. My CT and I, are teaching students lots of reading strategies to help them read the textbook as well as articles. By teaching a variety of strategies, we are reminding students that though one strategy may not work for you, there are others you can try. They seem to be working and helping students be able to read for understanding rather than reading to finish the assignment.
Hi Jill,
It is interesting that strengthening Ss reading comprehension is a priority at WMS. Given this goal, how would you interpret the relatively low number of students that had completed their 2-column notes for Wednesday's class? What evidence do you have that students are having trouble reading science texts (as opposed to just choosing not to read them)? - fogleman Feb 7, 2010
Describe your school's strengths and needs based on a school improvement document, such as the school's SALT visit report, its SALT survey data, or its school improvement plan.
RJ02 - Reflective Journal Entry 2 - Due Saturday, February 6, 2010
Two areas of improvement for Westerly Middle School are:
The first recommendation is something that I've seen my CT as well as the other teachers in our team talk about at almost every team meeting. The NECAP uses a particular language and the students need to be prepared for that. My CT's team has come up with a list of common words that are used on the NECAP and all plan to implement them into their daily routine [on tests, quizzes, homework, etc.]. This will help students understand what the NECAP questions are actually asking.
The second recommendation is also something that I feel is very important in science. It's a difficult task for students to be able to read science text. The vocabulary is often new and can easily discourage students from reading.The instant a student comes across a word they are unfamiliar with, it's easy to get lost and confused in the text. My CT and I, are teaching students lots of reading strategies to help them read the textbook as well as articles. By teaching a variety of strategies, we are reminding students that though one strategy may not work for you, there are others you can try. They seem to be working and helping students be able to read for understanding rather than reading to finish the assignment.
Hi Jill,
It is interesting that strengthening Ss reading comprehension is a priority at WMS. Given this goal, how would you interpret the relatively low number of students that had completed their 2-column notes for Wednesday's class? What evidence do you have that students are having trouble reading science texts (as opposed to just choosing not to read them)? -